Thursday, March 10, 2011

Water Rules

Don't freak out, but Pasadena's outdoor watering rules are about to change for the remainder of March.

I know, I know, it gets complicated. But Pasadena's Public Information Office (PIO Ann Erdman, Assistant PIO Linda Centell and Graphic Designer Zack Stromberg) has me on a mailing list so I've got the poop.

Beginning tomorrow (Friday, March 11th) you can water your lawn any day you want to, as much as you want to, for a week--because for ten days after that, from March 18th-27th, you are not allowed to water your lawn at all.

It's only ten days, and it's only March, so like I said, don't freak out. I haven't watered my back yard for over a year and I still haven't been able to kill it.

On February 28th, the Pasadena City Council declared a Level 4 Water Shortage Emergency during the temporary shutdown of a major regional water pipeline from March 18th-27th. "The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), which supplies about 60 percent of Pasadena’s water, is planning a seismic retrofit of the F.E. Weymouth Water Treatment Plant in LaVerne and will stop all water deliveries to Pasadena and neighboring cities through its upper feeder pipeline during the project. For those 10 days, Pasadena must rely solely on its groundwater and reserves."

Those reserves (about 150 million gallons) are sufficient if everyone does their part. Outdoor watering is Pasadena's largest use of water. Under normal circumstances we use about 250 million gallons under normal circumstances. It shouldn't be too hard to cut that back. Established plants can go a good ten days or more without water (especially now, when it's not too hot), but horticulturalists recommend waiting to plant anything new until after the watering ban.

More information here, including tips about pre-watering, storing water ahead of time for hand-watering and how the ban will be enforced.

I hope this won't be a problem for you. It doesn't change a thing for me. I'll water the front yard once or twice this coming week, and I've got a couple of jugs of water set aside for the potted plants. The back yard will thrive, even if I take a flame thrower to it.

Can we still use hand-held hoses and drip hoses? My husband planted tomatoes on Sunday (despite the advice) and yesterday the gardener, thinking he was being helpful, tipped out all the rainwater I've been collecting in wheelbarrows.So now it'll have to be jugs full of dirty dish and bathwater for the plants. Eeeugh.

I hope that the official wording of the order is clear enough to specify that watering from city supplied water is not allowed. There are a growing number of people who use rainwater collection systems to water their property. We have an overflow from our water filtration (acidic water) that we use on plants and there are systems that let you collect grey water (used tap water from sinks). All of these sources do not "tap" into the city water supply or are using "used" city water.

JF, at the link "More information here" you'll get a full description of the restrictions. I see the language there "all methods of watering with city tap water." If you have questions, there are more links and phone numbers for details.